Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday – March 24, 2024

CLICK HERE for a worship video for March 24

Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday – March 24, 2024

Mark 15:1-39

 Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

There was a scene from “The Simpsons” from many years ago which has stuck with me, for reasons which will become obvious. Homer Simpson, through his own stupidity (as usual) finds himself in grave danger. The details aren’t important, but if you’re wondering, he’s in a bucket truck floating down a river, about to sink. Homer, high up in the boom bucket of the truck but sinking fast, falls to his knees in a posture of prayer. He folds his hands piously and says, “I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please, save me Superman!”

If you’ll forgive the silly illustration on such a spiritually serious day, I think it helps us to understand this jarring transition we experience as we move so quickly from palms being waved in celebration to reeds being used to strike Jesus, from shouts of “Hosanna” to shouts of “Crucify him,” from a joyful procession to a horrific crucifixion, from palms to the Passion.

You see, the crowds waving palm branches at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem were not unlike Homer Simpson. These were people who were in trouble. They were sinking under Roman oppression. These were people who needed help, who needed saving. In fact, the word “Hosanna” literally means, “come and save us!”

But the adoring crowds cheering for Jesus were expecting a Superman of sorts. They were expecting a strong man who would swoop in and rescue them from all their problems. They were expecting a king in the mold of David. They said as much: “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David.” They believed they were welcoming a Man of Steel who would flex on the Romans and restore their kingdom to its former glory. “Hosanna!” they cried. “Save us, Superman!”

The crowds were not wrong in celebrating Jesus’ arrival. They were not wrong in treating him as a Messianic figure. For the first time, Jesus let people publicly celebrate him as such! Jesus seemed to soak it all in as he made his way through the city gate on the back of a donkey. Those Messianic shouts and accolades and praises were appropriate. The people were not wrong in placing their hope in him. They were not wrong in shouting “Hosanna.” They were not wrong in expecting that he had come to save them. He had!

But they were very wrong about what he would save them from, and how he would do it.

When this became evident, the people turned on him pretty quickly. Notice how when Pilate offered to release a prisoner for them, they chose Barabbas – an insurrectionist. He was a rebel against Rome. He was a strong man, a fighter. This is a very revealing choice. This was the kind of savior they were looking for – someone who would help them build their earthly kingdom.

Even the disciples turned on Jesus, each in their own way. Judas outright betrayed him. Peter denied even knowing him. They all ditched him after he was arrested.

We heard the gory details of what happened to Jesus next. He was beaten with a whip. He had a crown of thorns painfully pressed onto his head. He was struck with a reed. He was cruelly mocked and spit on. His hands and feet were nailed to a cross. Then he was lifted up from the earth, just as he said he would be. He hung there by the tendons in his wrists for six hours, his life slowly draining away, until he gave out a loud cry and breathed his last.

This certainly didn’t look like a Superman type of savior. Jesus didn’t look like he was saving anyone. He looked like he needed saving himself! That’s what some of the people at the foot of the cross said! They heard him say, “Eloi, Eloi,” and misheard him, thinking he was calling for Elijah to come save him.

But something happened the moment Jesus died which shows that he knew exactly what he was doing by being lifted up on the cross. It shows that he was indeed the savior, even if he wasn’t the kind of savior people expected. At the moment of his death the temple curtain was torn in two. There was this enormous curtain in the temple separating the people from the inner sanctum of the temple where God was believed to be most powerfully present. At the very moment Jesus died, this curtain was ripped open! It had stood for centuries as a sort of guard rail preventing sinners from stumbling into the Holy of Holies. It prevented sinners from coming into the presence of the Holy God. And when Jesus breathed his last, this curtain was torn right down the middle. There would no longer be any separation between sinful humanity and a holy God. Jesus had taken the sin of the world upon himself. The wages of sin is death, and Jesus paid it for all of us! And in so doing, he has torn open the curtain, giving us immediate and eternal access to God.

I find it very interesting that the only person in the Passion narrative who recognized Jesus as God’s Son was a soldier, a centurion. Seeing how Jesus gave out a loud cry and then breathed his last, the centurion responded to what he witnessed by saying, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” This centurion had almost certainly seen hundreds of crucifixions before. Maybe thousands. What was different about this one? Yes, there was the eerie darkness that had fallen over the land, but everyone saw that, and they didn’t respond like he did. Some scholars have suggested that it was the way Jesus gave that last loud cry. Usually, victims of crucifixion die of suffocation. They are very quiet at the end. They don’t have any breath left to shout with. Perhaps he saw a unique strength in Jesus, as he gave that last loud shout.

Or maybe this unique strength went deeper. The ethos of a soldier, especially one who was responsible for 100 men, includes an understanding of sacrifice. Yes, they are fighters. Yes, their goal is to defeat their enemies. But every soldier understands that they may be called upon to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others. Perhaps this centurion had a revelation that this was what Jesus was doing. Perhaps he saw in Jesus the unique strength of sacrificial love. Perhaps he saw God at work in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself. Perhaps this is what made him say, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

When we sing “Hosanna” now – which we do every Sunday in our communion liturgy – we are not asking for Superman to come save us with muscle, with earthly power. We are not calling for a savior who merely comes to help us with our earthly projects. We are not calling for a savior who will swoop in and immediately take all our problems away. We too will have crosses to bear in this life.

When we sing “Hosanna” now, we are welcoming a savior who comes to us in the midst of our problems, in the midst of the crosses we bear, assuring us that we are not alone, and that our suffering will not have the last word.

When we sing “Hosanna” now, we are celebrating the coming of a savior who has saved us from sin and death by dying for us. We are celebrating the savior who has torn the curtain in two, from top to bottom, giving us immediate and intimate and eternal access to God. We are celebrating the savior who took all our sin upon himself so that we could approach God in all boldness and confidence. We are celebrating the savior who sacrificed himself for us, so that we could live in the hope and peace and joy of God’s gracious and forgiving love, today and forever.

Jesus wasn’t the savior anyone expected, but he is indeed the savior we need the most.

And so when we sing “Hosanna” now, we are joining the centurion in looking at our Lord on the cross, and confessing our faith that, “Truly this man was God’s Son.”

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church

EXPERIENCE THE HOPE OF EASTER AT OHLC!

EXPERIENCE THE HOPE OF EASTER AT OHLC!

HOLY WEEK & EASTER SCHEDULE:

MARCH 28, 7pm:  MAUNDY THURSDAY WORSHIP

We will commemorate Jesus’ last night with his disciples and the institution of the Lord’s Supper with a special evening service including foot-washing, Holy Communion and the stripping of the altar.

MARCH 29, Noon & 7pm:  GOOD FRIDAY WORSHIP

Good Friday services will be held at Noon and 7pm.  This powerful service includes the reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus punctuated by song and the progressive extinguishing of candles. Easter joy is that much sweeter when you make it a priority to commemorate the crucifixion. Join us!

MARCH 31:  EASTER SUNDAY WORSHIP

Join us Easter Sunday as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with festival worship services at 8 & 10:30. Invite your friends and neighbors to join us on this day of celebration!

EASTER SUNDAY BREAKFAST

Plan on joining us for a delicious breakfast on Easter Sunday, served in Herrigstad Hall from 9am to 10am.

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 17, 2024

CLICK HERE for a worship video for March 17

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent – March 17, 2024

John 12:20-33

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

When my boys were really little we went on a long road trip to Arizona to see their grandmas, both of whom were living there at the time. Before our big trip we showed the boys the route our journey would take. We had one of those children’s puzzles where each state is a piece of the puzzle. We showed them where we were in southwest Washington, where we used to live. We showed them how we’d be traveling through Oregon, and then Idaho, and then Utah, and then Arizona.

The day of our departure came, so we got up early in the morning to begin our journey. We loaded up the van and headed out. We were on the freeway for about twenty minutes when one of them said, “Are we in Utah yet?”

“Not yet,” we said.

That was a long trip. I think we must have said “not yet” about a thousand times.

The disciples had been on a long journey with Jesus. And throughout their journey they too heard a lot of “not yets.”

When Jesus and his mother and his disciples attended a wedding in Cana, his mother saw that the wine had run out. Mary urged Jesus to do something about it. Jesus said, “Mother, why do you involve me, my hour has not yet come.” While Jesus did eventually intervene, he did so on the sly, because his hour had not yet come.

Later, when Jesus was staying in Galilee, his disciples came up to him and said he ought to go to Judea in order to do some miracles there. They urged him to go there in order to show himself to the world. But Jesus said no. “My time has NOT YET come,” he explained.

When Jesus went to Jerusalem to teach in the temple, people got all riled up and hatched a plot to kill him and tried to seize him, but we are told they did not lay a hand on him, because his hour had NOT YET come.”

All of these “not yets” lead us to our gospel reading for today.

As we heard, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover. While he was there some Greeks asked about him. These Greeks were foreigners. They looked different. They were clean shaven and had short hair. They wore different clothes. They ate different foods, like feta cheese and their own weird version of yogurt. The way they spoke was different. While just about everyone spoke Greek throughout the Mediterranean region, these actual Greeks would have spoken it with a distinct crisp accent – without any of those throaty, guttural sounds made by native Hebrew speakers. Perhaps these Greeks were proselytes to the Jewish faith, or maybe they were simply there to take in the celebratory atmosphere of the festival of Passover, kind of like how non-Christians without a drop of Irish blood celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

At any rate, these Greeks were drawn not just to the temple itself, but specifically to Jesus. They came asking about him. They wanted to see him. And when Andrew and Philip told Jesus that these Greeks were looking for him, Jesus at last said, “The hour has come.” With the arrival of these Greeks, all those “not yets” suddenly became a “now.”

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” Jesus said. Jesus told his disciples that now was the time for him to do what he really came to do. Now it was time for him to die. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

Now my soul is troubled,” Jesus continued. He dreaded what lay ahead. How could he not? But at the same time, he was determined. “Should I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour?’” Jesus asked. “No,” he said, “it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” This is where his journey had been leading all along.

“Father, glorify your name,” Jesus said. And in a peal of thunder God the Father said, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

With this assurance from his Father, Jesus said, “Now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself.”

The presence of these Greeks served as a cue to Jesus that the final leg of his journey was now at hand. Now was the time for Jesus to trade places with a sinful humanity, enduring their judgement. Now was the time for him to defeat sin, death, and the devil by enduring the cross. Now was the time when Jesus would offer himself up as the Passover lamb whose blood would bring life and salvation to all people. Now was the time to fulfill the promise made to Abraham, that through his line a savior would come to bless all the families of the earth. Now was the time for Jesus to be buried like a seed in order to rise again and bear much fruit. Now was the time for Jesus to be lifted up, that he might draw all people to himself.

All of the “not yets” of Jesus’ journey led to the “now” of the cross. This is how the Son of Man would be glorified – by dying on the cross for the sin of the world. This is how God’s name would be glorified – by the self-giving love of his Son, lifted up on the cross to draw all people to himself.

And as Jesus draws people to himself, he calls them – he calls us! – to die with him. We are called to join him in this pattern of dying and rising. “Those who love their life lose it,” Jesus says, “and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

This is a Hebrew way of speaking that is difficult to translate into English. To hate your life does not mean being nihilistic or negative. Life is a precious gift from God to be cherished and preserved! This is a Hebraic idiom, an exaggerated expression which means to die to yourself, to die to your self-centeredness. It isn’t about nihilism or negativity, it is about narcissism. It is about that pervasive human inclination to want to be our own gods, our own saviors, to live in service only to our own appetites and desires. To “hate your life” means to bury that narcissistic impulse in all of us in order to rise to something new, something better. Jesus is calling us to be buried with him in order to rise to a new life of faith in him.

Our lives often feel like a big “not yet.” In many ways we are works-in-progress, waiting to arrive. Sometimes we get confused and frustrated and anxious that we aren’t farther along than we think we should be. Maybe you have not yet figured out your place in this world. Maybe you have not yet found the healing you long for. Maybe you have not yet achieved what you hoped you would in life. Maybe you have not yet conquered your demons. Maybe you have not yet had God’s grace reach certain parts of your life. Maybe you have not yet had God’s love reach certain corners of your heart.

Dear friends, today all of those “not yets” give way to the “now” of the cross. On the cross, Jesus was lifted up in order to draw you to himself.  Now your sin is forgiven! Now he has won for you life and salvation!

On the cross, Jesus opened his arms to the world. He opened his arms to you, embracing your life as it really is today. He takes your pain, your grief, your broken hearts, your fear, your sin. He takes it all upon himself so that you might know God’s loving presence in your life now.

And now we are also called to follow.

“Whoever serves me must follow me,” Jesus says, “and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

Now we are called to die to ourselves and live for him. As Martin Luther said, we are called to be “little Christs” to the people around us. Now we are called to embody the selfless love of our Lord in our lives. Now we are called to glorify his name in all that we do, living in joyful obedience to his will.

Christ is the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and was buried, so that he might bear much fruit. Even now that resurrection fruit grows in us as we die and rise into a new life with him.

The kingdom is not yet here in its fullness, but now we have a promise to live by. Now we have a foretaste of the feast to come. Now he is lifted up for us, that he would once again draw us to himself.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church